Overview
The Heisei era (1989–2019) was the reign of Emperor Akihito. The asset bubble burst in the early 1990s, opening the long stagnation called the “lost decade(s)” — deflation, banking crises, and slower growth — while society aged and the population began to shrink.
Key developments
The year 1995 brought both the Great Hanshin (Kobe) earthquake and the Aum Shinrikyo sarin attack on the Tokyo subway. On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami killed nearly twenty thousand people and caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Meanwhile Japanese popular culture — anime, games, and manga — became a global export.
End and transition
Emperor Akihito abdicated on April 30, 2019, the first abdication in about two centuries (since 1817). The Reiwa era followed.